hopeless vs hope-full

Yesterday, our team was able to serve in a really unique way. We woke up shortly before 5am to pack food packs for the poorest of the poor in Davao. Like in Vancouver, the downtown core has a plethora of marginalized, homeless and sick people. Every so often, the people here at Hope for the Nations wake up early in the morning to our Filipino friends. The key to this approach is to do it early enough that we catch them before they go off to work...because once they leave, they probably would have not eaten already.

I was blessed to be in a group with Patrick, Tim, Cory (another missionary), and Dexter (a 17yr old volunteer here with Hope for the Nations. The first person we approached was in a city square area sleeping on a piece of cardboard, on a platform by a water fountain. He couldn't have been older than 12, and was disturbingly dirty. As we approached him, my heart began to feel heavy as i grieved his situation. As he awoke, he told us that he was cold...he was sleeping in shorts, and no shirt. I wondered, "where is his family? does he go to school? what does he have to wake up to?!"

we visited more people/families later and came across a family of 4 - Grace, Charlie, Vincent and Precious. here we had an ENTIRE family sleeping together on a piece...several pieces of cardboard. As Grace began to share her story with us, she began to cry. We were humbled. I think my confidence in God and yet the frustration with the degree of poverty was meeting at that moment. I found myself in what seemed to be an utterly hopeless situation.

Later in the afternoon, KP and I made our way to to the home of Bryan, the child that Tenth sponsors. we were there to film his story to take home to Vancouver to show our church family what their money and prayers are going towards. Bryan is 13. His favourite subject is Math. He likes to play basketball and chess. He hopes one day to be a pilot. He began volunteering here at the House of Jubilee in March. the reason he comes? to be with the toddlers. that is precious.

I also met a beautifully inspiring young boy named Dexter. Dexter is 17, and will be graduating from highschool in the next year. Right now, he's trying to decide if he will go to university, or if he will spend some time with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS). If he studies, he wants to pursue Political Science, and one day become a lawyer. In deciding if he wants to go on a DTS, he told me that he wants to make sure that he's NOT going for the wrong motivations. Most people he knows come back from a DTS unchanged because they went with wrong motivations, mostly because they want to leave the Philippines and travel. Dexter, however, really wants to deepen his faith and understand God in this new context, still serving in his country, just a different province. WOW. what youth do i know is so aware of themselves at this age?

and so my friends...Saturday was an overwhelming day. the morning saw many hopeless people. the afternoon saw dreams, ambitions and desires rooted in faith and the strong foundation of God.

incredible.

deb